


Humane Society (The Holding Down the Fort Remix)

by professor



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Background Slash, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-04
Updated: 2014-05-04
Packaged: 2018-01-21 23:06:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1567310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/professor/pseuds/professor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Raven is going to murder Erik when he gets back, after leaving her alone with a base full of mutant teenagers for almost three weeks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Humane Society (The Holding Down the Fort Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smilebackwards](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smilebackwards/gifts).



Raven is going to murder Erik when he gets back, after leaving her alone with a base full of mutant teenagers for almost three weeks. Fuck this, she didn’t sign on to his crusade to babysit. Because of course Emma and Azazel and Janos have all faffed off as well, leaving her holding the bag.

And she definitely didn’t sign up to deal with Sean Cassidy, scared of every little damn thing and annihilator of dishware.

As it is she’s already using Erik’s money to pay for the pizza deliveries, even though he told her only to use that money for emergencies.

Tamika, the pizza girl, smiles as Angel gives her the money plus tip. Raven wonders sourly if she would smile if she could see Angel’s wings or her blue skin. Erik's probably right, though. No human would accept them, delight in what they can do --

One human did, her mind whispers, and Raven shoves those thoughts down, down deep. She can’t think of him. Not knowing what’s to come.

*****

The phone rings after three weeks and Raven is thinking _this had better fucking be Erik_ when she picks up.

"Raven, this is...," says Erik’s voice, and Raven hides her relief to give him the talking-to he so richly deserves.

"Oh my God, Erik, _where the fuck have you been_?" Raven yells impatiently.

" _I..._ ," Erik starts, but Raven doesn't let him explain. Fuck his explanations. Fuck them.

"Do you know what Sean did without you here to terrify him into silent submission?" she asks ominously. She’s been _waiting_ to tell him, planning to savor it.

" _Please don't tell me_ ," Erik says.

"Apparently it was a cockroach this time," Raven tells him spitefully. "Or a centipede. I don't know. Something any normal person would flinch from and then kill with their shoe. Whatever kind of cephalopod or crustacean or what the hell ever it was, the salient point is that we no longer have any non-shattered dishware. Everyone's been eating pizza and Hot Pockets for the last twelve days."

Erik groans over the line, but fuck if she cares. Asshole deserves it, and much more.

"So, what, did you get hit by a car and go into a three week long coma? Did you have retrograde amnesia, brought on by the trauma of witnessing a brutal murder in a dark alley? Did you fall in love with that mutant you were recruiting and shack up with him?" Raven says.

" _The mutant was a woman, actually. And no, I did not fall in love with or 'shack up' with her_." And Raven totally catches what he's not saying.

"But you did fall in love with someone and shack up with _him_?" Raven shrieks excitedly, her anger forgotten for the moment. This is HUGE. Erik 'I’m so dedicated to the cause" Lehnsherr, in love. Oh my god. She’s never going to let him live it down. 

Of course first he has to get _back_ here.

"God, Erik. You didn't have to hide out in your love nest for almost a month. Bring the guy home with you,” she orders him. “Everyone will be glad to meet someone who can withstand your temper for more than a twenty minute period." He has no _idea_ how true this is.

"Raven, he's not a--," Erik starts to say, but Raven doesn’t care what this guy is _not_ , as long as Erik brings him home.

Erik has a boyfriend. Thank god. Maybe if Erik is getting laid on a regular basis he’ll stop being so intense and cranky and impossible to live with.

*****

And then a few days later Erik is finally back but instead of being glad Raven is terrified because Charles is here oh god, he found her and Charles is here and human and Erik is here and he’s going to hurt Charles, kill him ---

And then Erik leans over and starts kissing her brother and WHAT THE FUCK.

Charles chatters obliviously and runs off to get something and Raven glares at Erik _like she has never glared before_. The hypocrite. 

Okay, so apparently she doesn’t need to worry about her brother getting killed in the Glorious Mutant Revolution any more. So that’s nice.

And despite the fact that Erik is nominally her boss, she knows her responsibility as Charles’ sister towards his new boyfriend.

“If you hurt my brother,” Raven tells Erik, “I will end you.”

*****

Four battered boxes full of old junk shouldn’t matter so much. But knowing that Charles kept them, that’d he’d been looking for her, caring about her, for all these years … it’s everything.

And Raven has never been so glad to hear that someone is dead when Charles says that Marko is gone. 

And even better, Charles got the house.

It’s a huge pain, to make sure everyone gets their stuff packed up, and of course Erik is too busy to help because he’s spending all this time _making kissyface with her brother_. She tries not to think about that too hard.

But it’s so worth it, when they get to the house in Westchester and Sean asks Charles, “Is this yours?” and Charles says, “It’s _ours_ ”, and she gets to see the dawning expressions of happiness on everyone’s faces. 

Even Emma seems impressed, or at least, not actively disdainful, which is a miracle coming from her.

*****

She’d made up that thing about Charles being supernaturally likeable, but it sort of winds up being true, in the end. Everyone loves Charles: Hank, who has someone to do science with, Alex and Sean and Angel, because he makes them cool stuff, and everyone else loves his biscuits.

And of course Erik, but she continues to try to not think about that too hard.

*****

Raven is on the veranda one cool fall evening, enjoying the breeze, when Charles wanders out to join her. Just him, which is a little unusual since he and Erik are usually joined at the hip.

He pulls up a chair next to her, and they sit in companionable silence for a time.

“Nice night, isn’t it,” says Charles.

“It is,” she agrees.

“I know things have been busy, and we haven’t gotten to talk much,” says Charles. “But I wanted to ask, how are you doing?”

Raven smiles. 

“I was just thinking," she says, "that it’s good to be home.”


End file.
